


Nightmare

by nothingwithoutyouxo



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post Season 3, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21663961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingwithoutyouxo/pseuds/nothingwithoutyouxo
Summary: Restless and unable to settle into his new life, Will overhears a scream from El's room in the middle of the night and helps calm her down from the after effects of a nightmare.
Relationships: Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again!! I don't know where this came from, but if Will and Eleven aren't best friends in Season 4 I will have to riot. It's as simple as that.

Will knew that realistically he shouldn’t be awake at this time, but he was still restless. He hadn’t quite settled into their new house, their new lives. It didn’t feel right yet, so he often found himself lying awake at night as if staring at the ceiling long enough would make this feel like a _home_. Even sharing a room with Jonathan for the first time in his life didn’t help with that. It wasn’t that he minded it, the two of them had agreed to it because it allowed El her own space, but it was different which automatically made him a little uneasy. 

At one point he decided to take a trip to the kitchen. Maybe drinking some water would help. Maybe the short walk would tire him out enough that he could finally crash and get some sleep. Will was sneaking past Eleven’s room when he heard the muffled sounds of a scream on the other side of the door. He jolted, freezing in what must have been fear. It sounded familiar, too much like what it was like over the summer. Too much like everything they’d already been through. Will took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob. He had to check and see if she was ok. 

“El?” he asked, creaking the door open slowly. He stood carefully in the doorway and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark room. He could see Eleven’s form hunched over in her bed, as if she were hugging her knees. Will could hear her unsteady breathing from where he was. So it was a nightmare then. 

Will quickly ran over his options in his mind, trying to figure out what to do. Should he wake his mum up? Or Jonathan? Should he call Mike? Hearing his voice might help her. He wondered how mad the Wheelers would be if their phone rang at this time of night. Will wasn’t quite sure how late it was, but considering how dark it was in the room, not even stray light from the moon making its way through the small bedroom window, it had to be passed midnight. 

“Will?” She barely managed to say his name without her voice cracking, the strain of the word filling the silence with an insistent uneasiness. 

“Yeah,” he muttered. “It’s me.”

Whatever hell she’d woken up from, Eleven still seemed to be there. Her breathing had yet to calm down, and Will knew that he needed to act now, whatever that looked like.

“Will, can you -” her voice broke off. Will heard the sound of shuffling in her bed, probably trying to force herself out of the constricting covers. Wherever she was trapped a few minutes ago wouldn’t have helped with that. 

Will waited for her to indicate what she needed, knowing that moving too suddenly might startle her if she was still halfway between there and here. 

“Can you come here?”

He nodded in the dark, even though he was sure she wouldn’t be able to see it. Under any other circumstances this might have been a little awkward, and Will felt a little awkward as he slowly crossed the room, but this was important. He knew how insistent nightmares could be. He knew what it was like to be unsure where he was, whether he was in this world or the Upside Down or somewhere worse. 

Eleven had shifted closer to the wall, or maybe she was there to begin with. Either way, it left enough space for Will to sit down next to her, keeping a good amount of space between them until she indicated what she needed next. Her breath was rattling in her chest. Will was sure her throat must have been burning as her body tried to drag as much air as it could into her lungs. Maybe he should have gotten some water.

Will could tell from here that Eleven had her eyes closed, probably to focus all her energy on trying to keep breathing. He was already thinking up all the breathing exercises his mum had taught him to help calm him down from panic attacks. It hurt just a little knowing that he would have to pass them onto someone else, especially her after everything she’d been through. 

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, neither of them moving or speaking, but slowly Eleven reached out to him, her hand snaking around his wrist. She pressed her thumb against wrist, over his pulse. Will realised what she was doing far too late. 

“Real,” she muttered, more to herself than to him.

He didn’t have to ask to know what she’d seen then. Wherever she’d been, she’d lost them.

“Safe,” he replied, trying to keep his voice steady. He knew that he’d always needed the reminder, surely El would too. 

She nodded, slowly. Her hand crept up his arm. Will wasn’t sure if she was tracing his veins or what but he let her. Her breathing was finally starting to slow down, just a little. Just enough. 

“It’s ok.” 

That seemed to spark something. Eleven looked up at him and he tried his best to offer a smile, something reassuring. Her eyes were puffy, and he could tell whatever she’d seen was still living on the fringes of her mind. He wasn’t ready to ask about it yet. 

She looked away again, as if she could tell he’d seen it. Then everything happened all at once. Eleven let out what Will could only call the beginning of a sob and he reached for her, at the same time she reached for him. Then he was holding onto her and she was clutching him for dear life, her head buried against his chest. 

It felt familiar in an odd way, but also entirely different. Will was far too used to being the one in her position, with a constant need to be dragged back into the real world. He wasn’t used to being an anchor. 

“I’m sorry I’m not -” _Mike?_ Is that what he was trying to say? Will didn’t even know why the thought had crossed his mind. It definitely wasn’t the right time to say something like that either. He was supposed to be reassuring her. 

Eleven sniffled, dragging a shaky hand over her nose and eyes. Will didn’t have to worry about whether she’d heard what he’d said not, he knew she had. She’d jolted even though he hadn’t said the name. “You’re you,” she muttered. “That matters.”

Will took a deep breath and rested his chin against the top of her head. _I’m sorry._

She tapped her fingers to his waist as if she’d heard that too, before wrapping an arm around him again, holding tighter this time. There seemed to be an understanding growing between them. Almost like they could read each other’s minds. 

Eleven’s breathing went from evening out to being near panic again quite a few times. Will knew they were just aftershocks. He got them too, his brain reminded him of just how awful it could be. Teaching her one of his mum’s techniques helped. He instructed Eleven to breathe in, counted to seven and then told her breathe out. They did that each time, and each time Will could feel it draining her, but at least it was helping. 

“I’m sorry,” she muttered at one point. Will could tell she was exhausted, she’d been leaning more heavily against him, not so much from the comfort but because she seemed to be finding it harder to stay awake.

“Don’t be,” was all he replied with.

“Why are you awake?” she asked, trying to shake the stillness of the room.

Will shrugged. “I haven’t settled in yet. Can’t really sleep.”

Eleven gently untangled herself from him, sitting up and resting next to him instead, their sides pressed together. “Settled?”

“Yeah, it’s like I’m not comfortable here. Not yet.”

She nodded, her brow furrowing in understanding. As if this was a word she’d needed but hadn’t yet known. “Me too.”

“I think it’s going to take a while.” At least, that’s what Jonathan always told him when he trailed into their room after talking to Nancy for as long as he could, eyes tired and tone strained. _It’s gonna take a while, but it’ll be ok_.

Eleven sniffled again, and Will couldn’t help the instant rise of panic he felt. Was she crying again? Was it his _fault_? He rested an arm behind her back, close enough that she could lean into him again if she needed to, but she didn’t. 

“I don’t like this,” she muttered, dabbing quickly at her eyes with the cuff of her shirt sleeve. 

As he looked at her, Will realised what she was referring to, and suddenly he felt very cold. “I miss them too,” he said. “Everyone.”

Her eyes met his again, there was that understanding again. Her lips pulled into a faint smile, as if she was grateful that he’d known what she meant. 

“Do you need to talk about it?” It didn’t matter what he was referring to. It could have been anything, all of the things that they’d been through. He would have listened regardless.

She shook her head, leaning into him again. “Can we just - stay like this?” she asked, eyes flitting away from him.

Will nodded and the room fell silent again. The problem was that it was too still, too quiet and he couldn’t stay like this for long. He was getting restless. Will said the first thing that came to his mind. “I still get nightmares too.”

He could feel her eyes on him again, but he was looking pointedly at the wall opposite them. Eleven’s hand moved, curling around his wrist again, thumb pressed against his pulse. This time she wasn’t checking if he were real, she was letting him know that she was. 

“About the Mind Flayer?” she asked, an edge to her voice that told him that at the very least their nightmares had one thing in common. 

“About everything in the last three years.” _Sometimes all at once._

She shuddered, and Will almost regretted bringing it up. “What did it feel like?” Her tone was hesitant now, like she feared the answer.

Had he ever talked about this with her before? They’d never really spent much time together before the move, and especially not alone. Maybe he should. Mostly Will just hated how vivid he could remember the answer. “It was just like a presence,” he explained.

“A presence?”

“It was like there was someone else in my head.”

Eleven seemed to think about that, mulling her next words over. She moved her hand so hers was just resting on top of his. “It’s gone now?” she asked.

Will smiled faintly. “I hope so. I’m tired.”

She sat up again, an apology falling from her lips. 

Realising how that must have sounded, he quickly turned to look at her. “No, I’m mean I’m tired of fighting,” he clarified. “You’re not keeping me up.”

Her eyes flooded with relief, starting to wash away the remnants of her nightmare. “I’m not?”

“It’s kind of nice to have some company. I’m usually just by myself.”

Eleven smiled at him, all but forcing him to smile as well. “I think it’s nice too.”

He nudged her gently. “Are you feeling a little better now?”

She nodded, her smile growing. “Thank you.”

Will just shrugged in response, as if to say ‘It’s ok.’ Somehow he thought that she would have done the same for him, and that alone with enough to leave him more content that he was a few hours ago.

“Should we sleep?”

_Probably_. “Did you want me to -” he pointed towards her closed door. 

Eleven shook her head, her brows drawing together. “You could stay here?”

It was an incredibly careful way of saying that she might still need the protection. Maybe he did too. Will nodded. 

“Weird?” she asked.

“Not really.” Maybe this was what it was like to have a younger sibling. He’d have to ask Jonathan about it in the morning. 

Eleven slowly made her way under the covers curling up closer to the wall to leave enough space for Will. “Is this a sleepover?”

“Sort of.” He guessed it didn’t count since they lived in the same house, but the sentiment was still there. 

She paused, and after a moment Will crept under the covers too. 

“I miss Max,” she said. “We only had one sleepover.”

Will spared a moment to think over all the nights The Party had spent on the floor of Mike’s basement, or Dustin’s living room, or Lucas’ bedroom. They’d even spent more than a few at his house, while his mum flitted around them, offering more snacks with a bright smile on her face. Most of those were _before_. 

“We should have one with everyone next time,” he said. “Maybe here.” Winter break couldn’t really be that far away. Mike could bring Nancy with him, so Jonathan would feel like himself again. Maybe for now just hoping for that would be enough.

Will almost missed Eleven smiling next to him, burrowing further down in the sheets. “I’d like that,” she said.

“Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm over at [stranger-awakening](http://www.stranger-awakening.tumblr.com) on Tumblr is anyone wants to chat!!


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